[Storchy]

What has recently assisted me with my anxiety and insomnia has been getting help from my doctor, psychologist, sleep center and reading about insomnia.There has not been only one thing that has helped but all of the available aides. I have been using. When I addressed  what  caused insomnia. I began to o improve, This combined with changing my sleep habits. I now take melatonin before bedtime and make the bedroom dark I don’t let my cat sleep with me I read until I am sleepy and take benadryl to help me fall asleep. I now get 6-7 hours of sleep nightly. I do not take any sleeping pills like ambien. I hope to lessen my use of benadryl shortly.

 

 

[Martin Reed]

I’m glad to hear you are sleeping better, Storchy! Waiting until you feel sleepy enough for sleep is a big insight here and I feel that is far more of a contributing factor to your improvements than melatonin supplements or Benadryl.

Using Benadryl (or any other antihistamine) as a sleep aid is an off-label use of the drug. So, we don’t know about the potential long-term effects and there is no evidence to support the effectiveness of an antihistamine as a treatment for chronic insomnia. Our bodies will also build up a tolerance to antihistamine within as little as three days — so, even if it causes some drowsiness initially, the effects are likely to wear off very quickly.

When it comes to melatonin, people with chronic insomnia don’t typically have any problem with melatonin production or regulation so taking a melatonin supplement doesn’t usually help.

A far better alternative to any medication for the long-term treatment of chronic insomnia is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) since it addresses the root causes of chronic insomnia.

I hope you continue to sleep well and thanks for sharing your story.

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